Powell, Richard, St Clements, Oxford, cm (1765–77). Born c.1740 and in 1765 took over the business of Richard Shepherd, a cm whose foreman he had been for a number of years. Married at Holywell, Oxford, on 23 April 1773. Fire insurance records suggest that the business was only of a modest size with total cover of £300 of which utensils and stock accounted for £200. His name does appear in connection with a number of Oxford Colleges for which he supplied furniture, and some of this survives. In 1766 he supplied a mahogany orrery case for Queen's College at a cost of £24, and a firescreen for the Common Room of the same College. In 1771 two mahogany tables were supplied to Jesus College. His best known work was, however, for Christ Church. Tables and stools were made for the Library in 1774 costing £16 7s 6d. Two stools made to match a set supplied by Thomas Chippendale in 1764 are believed to be of Powell's manufacture and compare well with those bought from the London maker. In 1773 he was also paid £15 12s for six chairs for the Audit House, and it is possible that these also survive. [Bodleian index of Oxf. marriage bonds; GL, Sun MS vol. 255, p. 182; C. Life, 5 January 1945; Jackson's Oxford Journal, October 1765]